Have any of you painted any figures?

mapuc · 04-13-22, 05:13 PM

Have you asked a portrait painter s/he would know what colour you should mix to get the right skin colour.

Markus

ET2SN · 04-13-22, 06:10 PM

What bugs me is that back in good old days (at least in the US) I would go to the hobby store and buy a bottle of Pactra "flesh tone" and be done with it.

Pactra was enamel paint and their "flesh tone" was the go-to base color. Just mix some with a tiny amount of "whatever's on the shelf" red for the lips and mouth area. Mix a tiny amount of "flesh" into white paint for the eyes then use the flesh tone on its own for the rest of the face and skin as a base color. Done and sorted.

Pactra went extinct sometime in the late 1990's and no one picked up their formulas.

mapuc · 04-13-22, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ET2SN

What bugs me is that back in good old days (at least in the US) I would go to the hobby store and buy a bottle of Pactra "flesh tone" and be done with it.

Pactra was enamel paint and their "flesh tone" was the go-to base color. Just mix some with a tiny amount of "whatever's on the shelf" red for the lips and mouth area. Mix a tiny amount of "flesh" into white paint for the eyes then use the flesh tone on its own for the rest of the face and skin as a base color. Done and sorted.

Pactra went extinct sometime in the late 1990's and no one picked up their formulas.

Made a search to see if either Humbrol or Revell had a colour near our skin.

Here what it says
"There is no such thing as a “skin” color. Skin color is essentially a combination of all 3 primaries: red, yellow and blue. That's right. Red plus yellow plus blue"

Markus

ET2SN · 04-13-22, 06:46 PM

If you allow it, "skin tone" will drive you mad.
What I try for is an accurate "quick look" color. You see it on the figure, it looks about right, and your attention moves on to other areas.

What surprised me was that the worst "flesh tone" paint comes from Tamiya, I call it "electric peach".

Onkel Neal · 04-13-22, 07:17 PM

Not me, I'm going to try to paint some crew members for the Gato when I get tot it but I'm not really confident they will good. I've watched some videos on it and they make it look easy, but again, my dexterity isn't that good. I'm certainly not good at drawing and that seems like the kind of coordination that helps.

ET2SN · 04-13-22, 07:37 PM

In many ways, the smaller scales (1/72nd to even 1/350th) are easier for figure painting.

Just find a good base color (keeping in mind the basic uniform color) and go for it. After that, maybe use a darker "wash" color to bring out some shadows and you're done.

The key to the smaller scales is "don't try to over do it". Keep it as basic as possible (including the uniforms) or else find a REALLY tiny brush.

Eichhörnchen · 04-23-22, 08:19 AM

Here's a 110mm white metal kit from 'Andrea Miniatures' I painted up using a mix of enamel & acrylics

What you need to know is there should be some blue in your flesh tones. Humbrol 61 and Revell 35 are no good straight from the tin but need the addition of some red (a darkish one) and blue to get a colour that's less jaundiced-looking... then some white to lighten it . More white for a smaller 54mm figure because you want to be thinking about 'scale colour' too

I first paint on a base of matt flesh colour, then dampen the dried surface with water to allow a faint dab of a rose red acrylic colour to be softly tickled into the cheek areas using a small brush. The damp surface means you can soften this so it just slightly colours the cheeks up. You can see this in my photo

Then I'll use the same method to work a thin grey-brown colour around where facial stubble would be on a soldier who didn't always get time to shave. Also do this on any bare forearms, although a 'scumbling' of grey brown using a 'dry brush technique' (stroking across) makes for the most realistic arm-hair

A more general wash of very thin red-brownish acrylic can be useful to bring out any good relief detail such as around the eyes and ears, although this shouldn't be overdone

For the lips I use the flesh colour I've already settled on but add a little more blue and red to give a 'plum' colour - but not too dark

Eyebrows and pupils I then pick out with a small brush using a thin acrylic brown. And I NEVER ever paint the whites of the eyes; when you're standing a distance from someone you just don't really see these. So many great figures get ruined by 'zombie eyes'. Leave them flesh colour and just stroke in a tiny curved line to describe the upper eyelash line, then a short stroke downwards from this for the pupil... that's all I do

04-13-22, 05:13 PM	#1
mapuc CINC Pacific Fleet Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Denmark Posts: 20,541 Downloads: 37 Uploads: 0	Have you asked a portrait painter s/he would know what colour you should mix to get the right skin colour. Markus __________________ My little lovely female cat

04-13-22, 07:17 PM	#5
Onkel Neal Born to Run Silent Join Date: Jan 1997 Location: Cougar Trap, Texas Posts: 21,385 Downloads: 541 Uploads: 224	Not me, I'm going to try to paint some crew members for the Gato when I get tot it but I'm not really confident they will good. I've watched some videos on it and they make it look easy, but again, my dexterity isn't that good. I'm certainly not good at drawing and that seems like the kind of coordination that helps. __________________ SUBSIM - 26 Years on the Web

04-23-22, 08:19 AM	#7
Eichhörnchen Starte das Auto Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: The Fens Posts: 17,411 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	"Nach Moskau" Here's a 110mm white metal kit from 'Andrea Miniatures' I painted up using a mix of enamel & acrylics What you need to know is there should be some blue in your flesh tones. Humbrol 61 and Revell 35 are no good straight from the tin but need the addition of some red (a darkish one) and blue to get a colour that's less jaundiced-looking... then some white to lighten it . More white for a smaller 54mm figure because you want to be thinking about 'scale colour' too I first paint on a base of matt flesh colour, then dampen the dried surface with water to allow a faint dab of a rose red acrylic colour to be softly tickled into the cheek areas using a small brush. The damp surface means you can soften this so it just slightly colours the cheeks up. You can see this in my photo Then I'll use the same method to work a thin grey-brown colour around where facial stubble would be on a soldier who didn't always get time to shave. Also do this on any bare forearms, although a 'scumbling' of grey brown using a 'dry brush technique' (stroking across) makes for the most realistic arm-hair A more general wash of very thin red-brownish acrylic can be useful to bring out any good relief detail such as around the eyes and ears, although this shouldn't be overdone For the lips I use the flesh colour I've already settled on but add a little more blue and red to give a 'plum' colour - but not too dark Eyebrows and pupils I then pick out with a small brush using a thin acrylic brown. And I NEVER ever paint the whites of the eyes; when you're standing a distance from someone you just don't really see these. So many great figures get ruined by 'zombie eyes'. Leave them flesh colour and just stroke in a tiny curved line to describe the upper eyelash line, then a short stroke downwards from this for the pupil... that's all I do __________________

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04-13-22, 06:10 PM	#2
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	What bugs me is that back in good old days (at least in the US) I would go to the hobby store and buy a bottle of Pactra "flesh tone" and be done with it. Pactra was enamel paint and their "flesh tone" was the go-to base color. Just mix some with a tiny amount of "whatever's on the shelf" red for the lips and mouth area. Mix a tiny amount of "flesh" into white paint for the eyes then use the flesh tone on its own for the rest of the face and skin as a base color. Done and sorted. Pactra went extinct sometime in the late 1990's and no one picked up their formulas.

04-13-22, 06:46 PM	#4
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	If you allow it, "skin tone" will drive you mad. What I try for is an accurate "quick look" color. You see it on the figure, it looks about right, and your attention moves on to other areas. What surprised me was that the worst "flesh tone" paint comes from Tamiya, I call it "electric peach".

04-13-22, 07:37 PM	#6
ET2SN Ocean Warrior Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 2,652 Downloads: 60 Uploads: 0	In many ways, the smaller scales (1/72nd to even 1/350th) are easier for figure painting. Just find a good base color (keeping in mind the basic uniform color) and go for it. After that, maybe use a darker "wash" color to bring out some shadows and you're done. The key to the smaller scales is "don't try to over do it". Keep it as basic as possible (including the uniforms) or else find a REALLY tiny brush.